2009 Election

City of Champaign Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy, who is asking voters for a property tax increase this fall because she feels she doesn't have enough money to provide general assistance to township residents, somehow submitted a budget which inlcuded several thousand dollars in legal fees despite the City of Champaign providing free legal service for the Township.

Tension was higher than normal as the town of the city of Champaign Township debated their budget for Fiscal Year 2008-09 Tuesday night.

Though the township board eventually passed the budget, debate ensued about a $9,000 line item, of which a large portion was called "a supreme waste of money." An amendment was eventually added re-appropriating the $9,000 of the $688,668 budget. Originally, $3,000 of that money was allotted for professional fees such as membership to the Township Officials of Illinois, while the other $6,000 was appropriated for legal fees, which a number of the Board members had a problem with.

The legal fees were said to be used for outside legal counsel, despite the fact that the city of Champaign currently allows the township to use their attorneys.

"It sounds like there could be a fight on the horizon," said Board member Tom Bruno. "I don't want to suggest we get separate legal counsel if that's not the case. It seems like a supreme waste of money."

Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy said the counsel was not going to be used for any legal action brought up against the city of Champaign but rather to get advice about how to properly run the township and utilize its resources.

"This is not about a lawsuit," she said. "What (the board members) are doing is polarizing the issue."

Sheesh.

From the Daily Illini - I don't think I saw any NG stories on the results of Champaign's redistricting.

The chosen plan has about 15,000 people in each district, and was drawn by Vic McIntosh, District 3. He said the old map had many split districts, and he wanted to fix that this time around.

"I tried to draw it so there were no big changes," McIntosh said. "With the new plan, only one precinct remains split."

All but two of the Council members voted for McIntosh's map during last week's study session. The two others, Marci Dodds of District 4 and Gina Jackson of District 1, voted for another map.

Dodds said she chose the other map because she believes partisanship played a part in the drawing of the chosen one.

"Map 1 (the map chosen) is a much more partisan map," Dodds said.

http://www.urbanaparks.org/pdfs/QA_Referendum.pdf

I took the time to read through the urbana parks referendum. It outlines how the last tax rate increase in 1997 was used for and how it intends to use this proposed increase.

I had one major questions before I started read: Is this a proposal to maintain current level of services or is this a proposal to offer enhanced services and charge us accordingly. With money increasing steadily with new construction an increasing property values, are the proposed services something we should have expected anyways?

After reading this, something jumps out at me:

Without a rate increase, what will happen?

"Without a rate increase, the Commissioners will have to review the entire Park District program
of services and make decisions that likely will result in some of the following:

- New projects will not be possible at Crystal Lake Park
- Deteriorating features will be removed and not replaced
- The district will not be able to apply for grants because matching funds will not be available
- The district will not be able to improve neighborhood or community parks
- Crystal Lake Pool may need to close
- Natural areas will not be as protected from invasive species and deterioration
- Grass will not be mowed as often, flowers will not be planted, tree care will be reduced
- Recreation programs and services will be cut"

Of the eight drawbacks mentioned, 5 out 8 clearly show a failure to maintain current levels without a tax increase.

Something else jumped out at me after reading in the lengthly detail about the negative aspects of the tax caps:

"J. Even though the property tax rate keeps going down, doesn’t the park district get more
money each year?
Yes, even though the tax rate goes down every year, the park district gets more money each
year because property values increase and more properties get added to the tax rolls."

You really have to look close or you might miss the fact that the park district gets more money each year because property values increase and more properties get added to the tax rolls.

After my first round of analysis it looks as if the citizens of urbana will require a tax increase just to maintain levels of services previously expected, with the enticement of some new construction items that I feel are attractive and worth consideration independently.

Because of their failure to meet expectations and live within their means, I doubt they are going to plan accordingly to live within their means after this tax increase. A failure to live within their means after a decade of phenomenal economic success and rising property values is yet another red flag. Then there is the possibility that property values will not continue to grow as fast, or grow at all....

From the City of Champaign:

Because of recent growth, the City’s population is not evenly distributed over the five council districts. In order to evenly distribute the population, the district boundaries must be redrawn. Your input is essential to this process.

Visit the 2008 Council Redistricting page for more information and to draw new districts as you see fit.

The deadline for submittal is January 31, 2008.

For more information, please contact:
Lacey Rains, Planner II
(217) 403-8800
lacey.rains@ci.champaign.il.us

Very cool.

From Saturday's News-Gazette:

"Let's face it, this is not the best of economic times," said Walker, who added he felt the proposal might be easier to sell to the public.

Walker's proposal would mean that the owner of a $150,000 home would see a $100 increase in the property taxes the first year, compared with $119 if the full tax rate increase were implemented.

But the other three park board members, Deborah Rugg, Nancy Delcomyn and Robert Stewart, all indicated they thought such a proposal would be confusing to voters and would undercut the message that the additional money is needed to attain park district goals.

...

The proposed 25-cent tax rate increase would bring the district's overall rate next year to 94.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

I still can't get over that they're seeking such a huge tax increase, both in percentage terms and in real dollars.

Its time to take back Urbana from the Far-Left! I am doing research on the possibility of running for the Urbana City Council in 2009. I know its a little less than two years away, but from the latest shenanigans of the City Council, minus two, (Heather Stevenson, and Lynne Barnes) the Urbana City Council has shown that it does not represent Urbana, but a tiny fringe around the UCIMC! I am opposed to the creation of this Civilian Review Board, because every instance of police misconduct cited has been from Champaign or the County, none from Urbana!

The only instance was the Kurt Hjort case, which was dealt with internally and Officer Hjort is no longer on the force! What are people's recommendations for a possible run? I for one would like to reform the ward/alderman structure. It is so much like the old way of doing city government that brought about Boss Tweed! I also think that local elections should be non-partisan! Why is Urbana, the only City government with partisan elections. I have not found any other outside of major cities like Chicago where partisan elections take place. Heather Stevenson has told me that there are many Democrats in her ward who are infuriated with the kookiness of the current council and they feel that they have no voice on there, even though its a vastly Democratic council. My election would be nonpartisan, because it would be extremely difficult to just rely on loyal GOP voters since we are so spread out and sometimes, few and far between. What other issues besides, the outrageous property taxes, unfriendly business environment, ridiculous resolutions that have nothing to do with Urbana, like the anti-war resolution, and finally the CPRB! Could people provide me with pointers and issues as well.

One interesting thing, is that hardly anyone in my ward which is Ward 5, supposedly represented by Dennis Roberts (D) have any clue who he is? Isn't that kind of bad that the people whom you represent have no clue who you are? The people in Ward 5 also do not know what is going on in Council and how their local taxes are being used?

Could somepeople from Urbana speak up to this? Is it like this in other wards? We really need to start something going! I came up with an ad hoc group called "Take Back Urbana!" It is for people fed up with a City Council and Mayor who caters to only a small activist fringe in the city. It is not a group of Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, or liberals! It is going to be a group of citizens who are tired of the way things are being run at city hall. If any Urbana resident on here is interested, let me know. Maybe we could meet at the Courier. Love that place! Pick a time that works for folks, and tell others!

In a follow-up to a comment discussion from yesterday, Carol Elliott, the Cunningham Township Supervisor, was kind enough to email this report to me, and I wanted to share it with you.

I haven't read it all, but one thing I've noticed is that the Township has at least two funds:  a General Township Fund and a Genearl Assistance Fund.  The General Town fund covers expenses for assessment, administration, etc.

Cunninham Township's General Assistance Fund had about $380,000 and provided assistance to around 72 to 102 people per month, with the total number of individuals covered in any given year falling between 130 and 217.

Does anyone have similar information for City of Champaign Township?  Their website has lots of information about why they need more money, but I can't find anything about their current financial situation and how many clients they're serving and how many they cannot serve due to lack of funding.

Thank you to Carol Elliott for sharing this.

WDWS is reporting that Champaign City Council member Ken Pirok was arrested early this morning and charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

UPDATE:  Kiyoshi has PDFs of some police documents.